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As an award winning blogger, David Butler helps others explore the world of craft beer in Northern Colorado. Fermentedly Challenged helps you find great places to enjoy a beer, listen to music, enjoy a meal and find a discount on your next pint. Follow along on social media - @ChipperDave on Twitter and on Facebook.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Authentic German brews are a bit uncommon around Colorado, but a Loveland brewery is trying to bring a taste of Germany to the mountains and plains around Colorado. During a recent visit to Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, I grabbed several different bottles of their beers to take home and review. This review covers Grimm Brothers Brewhouse Little Red Cap, an Alt Style ale.

This brew is only distributed around Northern Colorado and at the moment, Grimm Brothers has no immediate plans to expand to other areas. Little Red Cap is one of their year-round standard brews. It's bottled in 22oz bombers and also sold in kegs to select stores. The altbier weighs in around 5.2% ABV. I wasn't able to determine the IBU value, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's in the upper 30s to lower 40s.

Little Red Cap, along with several other Grimm Brothers brews, has a very well done label that was designed by Ten Fold Collective - a design firm in Northern Colorado. In my opinion, their clever and catchy labels are a big attraction to these Grimm Brothers brews. But the real proof is in the taste, hence the reason I wanted to try it out with a full sample. This is the third review in a series of four consecutive reviews from Grimm Brothers.Appearance: Little Red Cap poured a dark reddish copper color. The beer was very bright and clear and I could see through it very easily. I got a couple finger tall light tan head from this brew that didn't linger too long. There wasn't much lacing that stuck around, and what little there was quickly slide down the sides without leaving a trace.

Aroma: The first thing that Little Red Cap smelled like was sweet malts and some earthy, grassy and biscuity hop tones. There was an overall caramel-like smell that reminded me a bit of wine, only hoppier.

Taste: Little Red Cap started off with a sweet caramel malt taste. it wasn't quite as nearly bitter as it smelled. The beer had a light to medium body to it and it went down easy without any additional bitterness or aftertaste. The beer tasted much like it smelled, there were some caramel, a bread-like character and grass and floral tones. I was expecting this brew to be a bit more bitter tasting, but it seemed to work out the balance by the end.

Overall: I admit I haven't had too many German-style beers in my lifetime other than Dunkels, Weisses and Marzens. And as for alts, I've tried a few. The more I drink them, the more I'm starting to appreciate the style. This little red altbier was sweet like an Oktoberfest beer with perhaps a bit more hops than other German styles. It tasted like a beer made from the best ingredients available from the earth, and like a home-style brew.

This was a rather easy drinking beer, sweeter than a pilsner or wheat beer and had a slow warming affect after the first glass. I liked it better than I thought I would after the first few sips. Granted, altbiers aren't in my top 10 favorite styles, but I would welcome this beer anytime if offered it again.

Disclosure: I paid full retail price for this beer at the brewery without any promise of a review to the brewer.

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